The increasingly conspicuous role of the GRS is part of a broader expansion of the CIA’s paramilitary capabilities over the past 10 years. Beyond hiring former U.S. military commandos, the agency has collaborated with U.S. Special Operations teams on missions including the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and has killed thousands of Islamist militants and civilians with its fleet of armed drones.

This paramilitary unit, comprised of "scorpions" — the most lethal of American military special operators — is responsible for protecting covert agents and classified drone sites in countries like Yemen, Lebanon, Pakistan and Libya (surely among other unnamed places).

GRS members, untrained in local languages and not expected to be writing up intelligence reports, often come with SWAT team or U.S. Special Forces backgrounds. In sensitive situations their actions have brought attention to covert CIA operations.

Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, the two agents who died in the Benghazi incident earlier this year, were both a part of the GRS, which the Post reports has at least 125 overseas employees. Raymond Davis, the "diplomat" captured in Pakistan in early 2011, was also a member of the group.

Davis, a former special forces soldier, whipped out his 9mm semi-automatic Glock pistol and, still behind the wheel, opened fire. Five shots sliced through the windscreen. Muhammad Faheem, a 19-year-old street criminal, fell dead.

Then a rescue detachment speeding the wrong way down the street in a Toyota Land Cruiser ran down a "cosmetics trader" and just kept going.

The Agency's SAD is itself comprised of case officers and former special operators, and goes hand-in-hand with the growing use of drone warfare since the beginning of the Global War on Terror.

The combination of the high-visibility drone program and partnerships with special operators, for security or daring raids, has brought unprecedented exposure to military-style operations the CIA has carefully expanded over the past 10 or so years.